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Prominent British sports broadcaster and presenter Reshmin Chowdhury and FIFA World Cup winner Thierry Henry will present The Best FIFA Football Awards in London on Monday, January 15, 2024.
The players, coaches, and other football figures who have made their mark on the beautiful game since the last edition of The Best FIFA Football Awards™ will be recognised in London, where the awards ceremony is returning for the third time.
It is also a hat-trick for Chowdhury, who is presenting the event for the third time following the 2020 and 2021 online shows. A multilingual British sports broadcaster and experienced event host, Chowdhury has anchored multiple football broadcasts, including the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 with BBC Sport and the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar with BeIn Sports.
Thierry Henry needs little introduction following a trophy-filled playing career during which he won the FIFA World Cup with France in 1998, the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2003, and the FIFA Club World Cup 2009 while at FC Barcelona.
When were the award periods?
The award period for the women’s accolades – The Best FIFA Women’s Player, The Best FIFA Women’s Coach and The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper – was between August 1, 2022 and August 20, 2023 (the date of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ final) inclusive. The award period for the men’s prizes – The Best FIFA Men’s Player, The Best FIFA Men’s Coach and The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper – was between December 19, 2022 and August 20, 2023 inclusive.
How were the shortlists drawn up?
Nominations for the awards were compiled by FIFA in collaboration with football stakeholders. Later, shortlists were determined by two separate panels of experts in men’s and women’s football. These panels comprised respected former players and coaches.
Who featured on the expert panels?
Women’s awards: Mercy Akide (Nigeria), Shirley Cruz (Costa Rica), Amy Duggan (Australia), Isabella Echeverri (Colombia), Mia Hamm (USA), Jessica Houara (France), Mana Iwabuchi (Japan), Manon Melis (Netherlands), Patrizia Panico (Italy), Clémentine Touré (Côte d’Ivoire) and Kirsty Yallop (New Zealand).
Men’s awards: Petr Čech (Czechia), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Brett Emerton (Australia), Rio Ferdinand (England), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Kaká (Brazil), Mario Kempes (Argentina), Alexi Lalas (USA), Jon Obi Mikel (Nigeria), Park Ji-sung (South Korea) and Ivan Vicelich (New Zealand).
Which players, coaches and goalkeepers were shortlisted?
FIFA published the shortlists for the respective award categories, on Thursday, 14 September 2023.
How does the voting work?
The winners of The Best FIFA Women’s Player, The Best FIFA Men’s Player, The Best FIFA Women’s Coach, The Best FIFA Men’s Coach, The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper and The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper awards are selected by an international jury comprising the current coaches of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), the current captains of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans from all over the world registered on FIFA.com .
Each jury member was requested to nominate, in decreasing order of merit, the three players, three coaches and three goalkeepers whom they considered to be most deserving of the respective award. The three players, three coaches and three goalkeepers nominated by each jury member will receive five points, three points, or one points respectively, depending on whether the jury member places the player, coach, or goalkeeper first (five points), second (three points) or third (one point).
The award is bestowed upon the player, coach or goalkeeper in each particular award category who received the most scoring points.
For the avoidance of doubt, women’s national-team coaches and captains voted for women’s awards, while men’s national-team coaches and captains voted for men’s awards.
